• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.347-348
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• 2023

Vaccines help protect people from infections. However, Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinees often still become infected with COVID-19 variants (breakthrough infections) and may go on to suffer from long COVID symptoms due to short-lasting immunity and less-effective protection provided by available vaccines. Moreover, the current COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent viral transmission and ward off only about 15% of breakthrough infections. To prepare more effective vaccines, it is essential to predict the viral strains that will be circulating based on available epidemiological data. The World Health Organization recommends in advance which influenza strains are expected to be prevalent during influenza season to guide the production of influenza vaccines by pharmaceutical companies. However, future emerging COVID-19 strain(s) have not been possible to predict since no sound epidemiological information has been established. Thus, for more effective protection, immune stimulators alone or in combination with vaccines would be preferable to protect people from COVID-19 infection. One of those remedies would be ginseng, which has been used for potentiating immunity in the past.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.31.1-31.14
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• 2020

The effectiveness of current influenza vaccines is considered suboptimal, and 1 way to improve the vaccines is using adjuvants. However, the current pool of adjuvants used in influenza vaccination is limited due to safety concerns. Aloe vera, or aloe, has been shown to have immunomodulatory functions and to be safe for oral intake. In this study, we explored the potential of orally administered processed Aloe vera gel (PAG) as an adjuvant for influenza vaccines in C57BL/6 mice. We first evaluated its adjuvanticity with a split-type pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) Ag by subjecting the mice to lethal homologous influenza challenge. Oral PAG administration with the pH1N1 Ag increased survival rates in mice to levels similar to those of alum and MF59, which are currently used as adjuvants in influenza vaccine formulations. Similarly, oral PAG administration improved the survival of mice immunized with a commercial trivalent influenza vaccine against lethal homologous and heterologous virus challenge. PAG also increased hemagglutination inhibition and virus neutralization Ab titers against homologous and heterologous influenza strains following immunization with the split-type pH1N1 Ag or the commercial trivalent vaccine. Therefore, this study demonstrates that PAG may potentially be used as an adjuvant for influenza vaccines.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.149-156
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• 2012

Purpose : We conducted a prospective comparative clinical study to determine the field efficacy of the 2010-2011 influenza vaccines [Influenza virus strains; A/California/7/2009 (H1N1), A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2), B/Brisbane/60/2008] in healthy Korean children under 18 years of age. Methods : In this study, we enrolled subjects aged between 6 months and 18 years and divided them into 2 study groups: a group who received the influenza vaccines (407 subjects), and a control group who did not receive the influenza vaccines (230 subjects). Ours was a multicenter study that involved 7 hospitals, including the Korea Cancer Center Hospital. The study was conducted between September 2010 and February 2011. We collected nasal wash or throat swab samples from subjects who presented with acute febrile respiratory or influenza-like illnesses at the hospital. We used PCR to confirm the presence of the influenza virus in the respiratory samples and characterize the virus type. Results : In this study, we collected 22 respiratory samples from the influenza-vaccinated group and found 3 cases of influenza virus infection. Similarly, we collected 21 samples from the control group and found 12 cases of influenza virus infection among 10 subjects during the study period. We determined the field efficacy of the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccines to be 83.2% in healthy Korean children and adolescents. Conclusion : In this study, we determined the field efficacy of the 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccines in healthy Korean children and adolescents. We found that the field efficacy of 2010-2011 seasonal influenza vaccines was adequate.

• Infection and chemotherapy
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.301-310
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• 2018

Backgroud: Influenza vaccination is recommended for adults aged ${\geq}65$ years as they are at high risk of significant morbidity and mortality. This open-label, multicenter, post-marketing surveillance study assessed the safety of the MF59-adjuvanted trivalent inactivated subunit influenza vaccine, which is marketed as $FLUAD^{(R)}$ and $VANTAFLU^{(R)}$, in South Korean subjects aged ${\geq}65$ years. Materials and Methods: Solicited local and systemic adverse events (AEs) were collected from day 1 to 4 of the study. All unsolicited AEs and serious AEs (SAEs) were recorded from day 1 until study termination (day 29). Results: Of the 770 subjects enrolled ($FLUAD^{(R)}$, n = 389; $VANTAFLU^{(R)}$, n = 381), 39% overall experienced any solicited AE. Local AEs were reported by 33% of subjects overall; with the most common events being injection-site pain (30%) and tenderness (27%). Systemic AEs were reported by 19% of subjects overall with the most common events being myalgia (11%) and fatigue (8%). Conclusion: These results show that the MF59-adjuvanted influenza vaccine known as $FLUAD^{(R)}$ or $VANTAFLU^{(R)}$ had acceptable safety profiles in older adults (aged ${\geq}65$ years) in South Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.2
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• pp.70-73
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• 2016

In late March of 2009, an outbreak of influenza in Mexico, was eventually identified as H1N1 influenza A. In June 2009, the World Health Organization raised a pandemic alert to the highest level. More than 214 countries have reported confirmed cases of pandemic H1N1 influenza A. In Korea, the first case of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 infection was reported on May 2, 2009. Between May 2009 and August 2010, 750,000 cases of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 were confirmed by laboratory test. The H1N1-related death toll was estimated to reach 252 individuals. Almost one billion cases of influenza occurs globally every year, resulting in 300,000 to 500,000 deaths. Influenza vaccination induces virus-neutralizing antibodies, mainly against hemagglutinin, which provide protection from invading virus. New quadrivalent inactivated influenza vaccine generates similar immune responses against the three influenza strains contained in two types of trivalent vaccines and superior responses against the additional B strain.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.32.1-32.15
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• 2023

Most influenza vaccines currently in use target the highly variable hemagglutinin protein to induce neutralizing antibodies and therefore require yearly reformulation. T cell-based universal influenza vaccines focus on eliciting broadly cross-reactive T-cell responses, especially the tissue-resident memory T cell (T_RM) population in the respiratory tract, providing superior protection to circulating memory T cells. This study demonstrated that intramuscular (i.m.) administration of the adenovirus-based vaccine expressing influenza virus nucleoprotein (rAd/NP) elicited weak CD8 T_RM responses in the lungs and airways, and yielded poor protection against lethal influenza virus challenge. However, a novel "prime-and-deploy" strategy that combines i.m. vaccination of rAd/NP with subsequent intranasal administration of an empty adenovector induced strong NP-specific CD8⁺ T_RM cells and provided complete protection against influenza virus challenge. Overall, our results demonstrate that this "prime-and-deploy" vaccination strategy is potentially applicable to the development of universal influenza vaccines.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2009

Acute otitis media (AOM) and pneumonia are among the most common infectious diseases of children. Both are mucosal infections and share many common features such as etiological agents, pathogenesis and immunity. Influenza plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AOM and pneumonia. A vaccine against influenza may have substantial impact on these diseases during the influenza season. In clinical trials, influenza vaccine has reduced the incidence of AOM and pneumonia complicating influenza in children. However, the efficacy of vaccines has been controversial in children less than 2 years of age. Similarly, vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), both common causes of AOM and pneumonia, have the potential to reduce the impact of disease. Clinical trials showed that the currently licensed 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), administered during infancy, had an efficacy of 6-7% for the prevention of AOM, however, visits to the clinic for AOM were reduced by up to 20-30% after routine use in the U.S. Both Hib and PCVs have a proven effectiveness of >20% for prevention of radiologically confirmed pneumonia in children. The recently introduced pnuemococcal vaccine conjugated with protein D is expected to reduce AOM and pneumonia caused by non-typable H. influenzae, in addition to its effects on pneumococcal diseases. Considering their high incidence in children, recent achievements in the prevention of AOM and pneumonia with vaccines may have a significant economic and social impact.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.474-480
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• 2012

Purpose: For evaluating the immunogenicity of an influenza vaccine, the microneutralization (MN) test has a higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. However, the MN test is more time consuming and is difficult to standardize. We performed the MN test to determine its usefulness as an alternative or complementary test to the HI test for evaluating the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines. Methods: We compared the MN test with the HI test using 50 paired samples taken from a previous clinical study (2008-2009) in Korean children under 18 years of age. Results: The linear correlation coefficients of the 2 tests for H3N2, H1N1, and influenza B were 0.69, 0.70, and 0.66, respectively. We identified a high index of coincidence between the 2 tests. For an influenza vaccine, the postvaccination seroprotection rates and seroconversion rates determined by the MN test were 78.0% and 96.0%, 90% and 42.0%, and 42.0% and 48.0% for H3N2, H1N1, and influenza B, respectively. Geometric mean titer fold increases of H3N2, H1N1, and influenza B were 2.89, 5.04, and 4.29, respectively, and were 2.5-fold higher. We obtained good results in the evaluation of the immunogenicity of the 2008-2009 seasonal influenza vaccines. Conclusion: We found that the MN test was as effective as the HI test. Therefore, we suggest that the MN test can be used as an alternative or complementary test to the HI test for evaluating the immunogenicity of influenza vaccines.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.105-108
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• 2010

Objectives: To evaluate the policies on 2009 influenza pandemic in Korea at the end of first wave. Methods: The main policies and the estimation of these were described according to the progress of 2009 influenza pandemic. Results: The public health measures for containment were estimated to be successful in the early stage. The preparedness of antiviral agents and vaccines before the pandemic, risk-communication on pandemic influenza and policies of government including vaccines, and the education of health care worker and support of health care institutions was not enough to respond to the pandemic. Conclusions: The additional evaluation should be performed at the end of the pandemic in various aspects including health and socioeconomic effects.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.280-287
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• 2015

Current influenza vaccines are produced in embryonated chicken eggs. However, egg-based vaccines have various problems. To address these problems, recombinant protein vaccines have been developed as new vaccine candidates. Unfortunately, recombinant proteins frequently encounter aggregation and low stability during their biogenesis. It has been previously demonstrated that recombinantly expressed proteins can be greatly stabilized with high solubility by fusing stabilizing peptide (SP) derived from the C-terminal acidic tail of human synuclein (ATS). To investigate whether SP fusion proteins can induce protective immunity in mice, we produced influenza HA and SP fusion protein using a baculovirus expression system. In in vitro tests, SP-fused recombinant HA1 (SP-rHA1) was shown to be more stable than recombinant HA1 (rHA1). Mice were immunized intramuscularly with baculovirus-expressed rHA1 protein or SP-rHA1 protein ($2{\mu}g/mouse$) formulated with aluminum hydroxide. Antibody responses were determined by ELISA and hemagglutination inhibition assay. We observed that SP-rHA1 immunization elicited HA-specific antibody responses that were comparable to rHA1 immunization. These results indicate that fusion of SP to rHA1 does not negatively affect the immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate. Therefore, it is possible to apply SP fusion technology to develop stable recombinant protein vaccines with high solubility.